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TO THE 



HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 



^ TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 




Your letter to the Governor of South-Carolina has just appeared. 
No inconsiderable compliment was paid you in the eagerness with which 
all classes of jour fellow-citizens hastened to obtain copies for their pe- 
rusal. You have enjoyed in more than ordinary degree, the confidence 
of your fellow-citizens. You have represented them in the Federal 
Council, ably and truly. You enlisted yourself in the last struggle be- 
tween this State and the Federal Government, and joined the ranks of 
that party which braved the power of the President, enforced by a 
submissive and obedient Congress. You merited, you received, and 
have enjoyed the confidence of those who knew you. When you chose 
to hold under the Federal Government, the place of Collector of its cus- 
toms, all were gratified. Though well understood as not entertaining 
the opinions of that large majority in this city and State who advocated 
the doctrines of the democratic party, you had no supporters more 
steadfast than those who belonged to that party. They sustained you 
a whig, in office, under a democratic President. In no way in which 
men could show their affection, confidence and respect, have they ever 
been wanting. They felt that however you might differ with them on 
mere questions of party, whenever the time arrived that would test the 
fidelity of the citizen, and the duty he should render to the State, in 
the imposing crisis so rapidly hastening on, you would be found where 
you ever had been, rendering, and proudly offering your allegiance to 
the State of South-Carolina. That if, in so doing you should incur 
danger or expose yourself to sacrifice, it would make the duty more 
pleasant to you. And the more helpless, and exposed the position of your 
State, the more glory would you feel in standing foremost among those, 
who were arming for her defence, not with the spirit of hp service, but 
the more hardy and enduring temper thai perils life, liberty and honour 
in her cause. We had no reason to suppose that you had any doubt on 
the present absorbing question of the day. You were known to have 
a personal interest in the question. But still more, you were known to 
have sympathized, and deeply too, in the present attitude of our State, 
and her sister slaveholding States. You were known to have smarted 
under the lash which an insolent majority had attempted to apply to 
us. You were known to have felt, that the aggressions with which we 
were not only threatened, but which were put upon us, must have 
an end, and also a remedy. That with the unprincipled combi- 
nations through whose agency these measures had been brought to their 
present unhappy maturity, there would be no end. That Congi;ess would 
not and could not afford a remedy. You were known to be where we 



4 TO THE HON. W. J. GKAYaON. 

all HOW are: -Relying on ourselves for our only protection. It is our 
painful duty to examine those reasons, as set forth in your letter, which 
have induced you to forsake your position, and abandon your State. 
"To maintain the propriety of your jjosition, you have been forced to an- 
nounce a proposition, which will no doubt startle every man in the 
slaveholding States. I choose to state it in your own language. " It 
cannot, then, with any justice, be said, that there has been any infrac- 
tion of the Constitution in the measures lately adopted by Congress. 
Neither can it be asserted that public opinion in the Southern States 
h;is ever given any clear and unmistakeable evidence of conviction on 
the part of our people that they can no longer continue their social, 
civil and political relations with the Northern States," p. IV. I had not 
supposed that in the Southern States, with the exception of a fuw who 
have returned from Washington with the reputation of having sold 
their country, there lived any who did not entertain the belief 
that the action of the last Congress had been obedient to that agra- 
rian and free soil spirit at the North, East and West, which now rocks 
this Union to its centre. Is this mistake? If so believe me, that how- 
ever unprincipled, we have been accustomed to consider the course of 
the non-slaveholding States, if you are right, our course has been more 
un])rincipled and contemptible. If it is so, tliat we have no well found- 
ed discontent with the sentiment and conduct of our opponents, then 
have we been guilty of the cowardly pretext of assigning a false rea- 
son or our conduct We have mocked the images of truth and justice, 
with our appeals, and stand ex])Osed to all the self debasement that 
must attach to falsehood and hypocrisy. If such were my ojiinion, in 
this land, not for one moment would I dwell. If I could believe that 
such were my fellow-citizens, I should depart from them, without 
regret, other than such as I would feel in leaving the bone of the hon- 
oured dead resting in a land so obnoxious to the censure of all honest men. 
I should endeavour to tbrget that I was born among such a people ; and in 
the same proportion in which I now thank my God, who cast my lot in life 
amidst this people, would I then sorrow in jirofound humiliation at the 
curse to which I would ft^el I had been subject. But it is not so. 
You have done us all great injustice. We have not the satisfaction of 
feeling that in the estimate we have made of our wrong we have been 
honestly mistaken. There has been too much time — too much discus- 
sion. In Congress and out of Congress — In ]H)pular assemblies — in pri- 
vate ciicles — at the private fire-side — in the temples dedicated to the 
worshi]) of God — in all of these, has this question bt^en again and 
aoain presented to us. The rays of light from every imaginable quar- 
ter, have been concentrated and thrown upon it. P;ussiun could not 
mislead us, for mere jiassion would have j^assed awny in the length of 
time through which the discussion has run. Prejudice if it created, 
could not have supported the opinion, for it has been too often exposed 
nakedly to us, to leave us that ))retexf.. If we have erred, we have 
wilfully erred. If we exaggerate, intentionally liave we done so. 

It is then in no idle spirit tliat I take up your pro|)osition, that " i 
cannot with any justice be said that there has been any infraction of the 



TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. O 

Constitution in the measures lately adopted by Congress." I do so not 
only to satisfy you, if possible, that there has been and is ; but more- 
over, to wipe from the escutcheon of the State, a stain which there would 
be indelibly impressed, if you were right. _ % 

Can you go to California with your slaves ? No. Can you go to 
Georgia? Yes. If you can to the latter, and not to the former, why 
is it so ? Because of the so-called constitution of California. Who 
made that constitution ? Do you know ? If California had tolerated 
slavery in its constitution, could she have been admitted ? Certainly 
not. What then induced her admission ? The prohibition of slavery. 
Can you deny it ? If so, you and I liave widely diftered in our read- 
ing of the debates of the last Congress. If, then, the prohibition of 
elavery was the inducement which led to the admission of that State 
into the Union, is not that prohibition an insult and injury to you ? If 
it is an insult and injury, does it not demand your interference ? If it 
is an insult and injury committed on yon, with the constitution held 
before it to screen its iniquity, but that charter so mutilated and torn, 
that through it may be seen the infamous conduct attempted to be 
practised behind it, does it not admonish you of unscrupulous oppres- 
sion, hesitating not at the desecration of all pohtical justice, if it but aids 
in the accomplishment of the impious work ? You are a citizen of 
South-Carolina. South-Carolina is one of the sovereign States, to which 
the Territory of California belonged. How did she acquire the right ? 
It resulted from the Mexican war. Did South-Carolina furnish her 
quota of men ? Yes. Did she supply that Federal Treasury, from 
whicl* the expenses were paid ? Yes. Does she contribute still to 
those resources, from which the unpaid debt is to be defrayed ? Yes. 
She was, then, in all respects, entitled to a portios of that which re- 
sulted from the war ? She had some rights What were they ? What 
are they ? While the Territory of California was territory, she was 
entitled, in common with any other State, to the enjoyment of that 
which belonged to her in common with them. But, immediately upon 
the acquisition of that territory, came that revelation of mighty trea- 
sure, which at once drew to the new land, adventurers from all parts of 
the world. Scarcely do they land, when they erect themselves into a so- 
called government, and call for admission into the Union. Do they, in so 
doing, continue to afibrd you, as a citizen of South-Carolina, the right to 
go there ? No ; they prohibit you. This is the right you now have 1 
Through what agency was this effected ? The Conp-ess of the United 
States ! And you call upon me to admit, that in this, there is no jus- 
tice in saying that Congress has been guilty of an infraction of the con- 
stitution. Have you not been identified with an institution, which has 
been interdicted ? are not you classed with political lejjers ? is not your 
republicanism denied, your equality scouted, your right, as a citizen of 
Carolina, to go to California, with all your rights as a citizen of Caro- 
lina, spurned ? are not all these things befoi'e you ? do you not see 
them, feel them? do they not flush your cheek, and chafe your spirit? 
And are these things no infraction of the constitution ? Believe me 
that I can find no excuse for one who does not feel that these are 
wrongs of the deepest hue, and calling for the highest sacrifices, except 



6 TO THE nON. W. J. GRA.YSOS. 

it be in the unbounded adherence to the slavish doctrine, that the king 
can do no wrong. 

Satisfied with CaHfornia, it creates no surprize that you should see 
nothing in the actj-dtreating a^ boundary for Texas, to excite your indig- 
nation. But, do you seriously believe that the Congress of the United 
States has the right to speculate upon the necessities of the people of 
a State, and apply the money of these sov^ereign States, to ])urchase a 
part of its soil, /or the purpose of conjininff the area toithin which 
slavery/ should exist ? You must say, no. Yet that is the case with 
Texas. And there is not one man in Congress, whose word carries 
belief with it, who will not admit, that this and this only was the object 
that suggested and concluded that most infamous bargain. Why, sir, 
where are we ? In what atmosphere are we breathing ? Have we the 
bow-string before our eyes, that we are afraid to think ? Can anything 
so delude the understanding, and steal away our intelligence-^can any 
thing make us so forgetful of the value of political liberty, that we could 
be made to consent, to shut our eyes and be robbed, least, if we seem 
awake, our throats should belong, with our purses, to the robber ? Con- 
gress dare not avow the robbery, but we know that it is done. Shall we 
hesitate in exposing the detection, until the culprit makes confession ? 
Or, shall we wait until our masters shall be so thoroughly satisfied of our 
weakness, that they will rob, and tell us that they did so ? No Sir. 
Believe me, that this bi'ibe to Texas is not without its parallel. Your 
cultivated taste has often led you to linger over those pages which pour- 
tray the stirring incidents of that people, who, rising from obscurity, in 
course of time, became in themselves a world. You have admired that 
virtue and courage which sustained them in the defence of their homes, 
and when these qualities grew stronger, ^.'nabled them to carry their 
language and laws among those whose natures were as savage as the 
wilds in wliich they roved. You have seen one cloud, and then another, 
and still another, come between you and the noon-day brilliancy of their 
history, until the light of their life was gone, and the transient gleams 
that arose only from their own corruption, enabled you to see how low 
their fortunes had fallen. You missed the voice of the jjoople proclaim- 
ing whom they chose fur tlieir rulers. You saw the gnid of the pow- 
erful buying the sword of the soldier, to cut for the spoiler the road to 
that distinction and the enjoyment of that power, which once was 
sacred to merit and virtue. You have read of the influence of money 
in the history of the most powerful nations of antiquity. You may see 
another illustration in our own day. 

Permit me to say, that in no ])art of your letter, am I more sur- 
prised at the argument which has satisfied you, than that which you have 
adopted in relation to Utah and New Mexico. I infer that you think 
it a matter over which we should rejoice, that in the Territorial bills for 
these places, the Wilmot Proviso was not inserted, \^\\i have you 
satisfied yourself why this Proviso was not adopted ? One reason only 
exists, and that is because there was no necessity for it. A more secret, 
more subtle, more dangerous, but equally effective plan was discovered. 
These reasons made that plan preferable to the Wilmot Proviso. But 
if it had been left to the Congress of the United States, to sav whether 



TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 



they would adopt tlie Wilmot Proviso, or reject it, without the adop- 
tion of some kindred measure, jou would have soon seen for what 
you ask us to be thankful. The Wihnot Proviso prohibited _ the 
introduction of slavery into these territories. This was the object. 
It had to be attained. There was a choice only as to the means. 
What were these means ? They were two. Congress might adopt 
the Wihnot Proviso, or inasmuch as the Mexican laws had abo- 
hshed slavery in these territories before they were ceded to the United 
States, it miqht he ^inderstood that these Mexican laws should be held 
as being now of force. The latter was the chosen plan. And in or- 
der that it should fully succeed, Congress declared that it was not com- 
petent for the Territorial Legishitui'e''to act upon the question of slave- 
ry. This was making assurance doubly sure. The Mexican lavys pro- 
hibited slavery. It was understood they should continue of force. 
And least by any chance the Legislature of these territories might be 
induced to tolerate slavery, all power over the subject was exj^^ressly 
denied. It was well supposed that the Mexican laws were sufficient, 
especially when any repeal of them was prohibited Am I wrong m 
saying it was more secret, more subtle, more dangerous, and equally 
effectual, with the Wilmot Proviso ? But you say the Mexican laws 
were not adopted by Congress. True, there was no act passed to adopt 
them. But I say it was understood they should be the substitute for 
the Wilmot Proviso. The test is this. Can you now go there with 
your slaves ? You cannot. Why ? Because the Mexican law will 
not allow you. Bt what authority do the Mexican laws exist in these 
territories ? By the authority of the Congress of the United States. 
Did any one in either Hall of Congress dare to get up and say that in 
rejecting the Wilmot Proviso, it was intended even indirectly to affirm 
the right of the slaveholder to go there with his_ slaves ? Not one. 
And a^e we so reduced, that we must thus compromise with our wound- 
ed feelings ? Have we no balm, save that which while it seems to cure 
our wound, robs us of our senses ? For what good end shall we thus 
dally with our honor, and patch up truces with our understanding ? 
Will patience restore us to our equality ? Will the conscience of those 
who degrade us, jxive us back our rights? Does power become tamed 
by submission ? Is freedom preserved by never ending submission ? 
When we knoiv the spirit and motive that prompts to the commission 
of an act, shall we forbear because prudence may induce our oppressors 
to conceal the purpose which governed them ? When you joined your 
State in resisting the Tariff act, what did you do ? You nullitied an 
act givino- undue encouragement to manufactures. But who so named 
that-' act f You and those who opposed it. Its friends said^it was a 
bill for raising revenue. A purpose in itself constitutional. You then 
disdained to liave your vision obscured with a cobweb. You treated 
the matter as it was meant, and not as it was expressed. You went to 
the sjnrit, and heeded not the letter. You felt that if you were op- 
pressed, it did not matter how it was done. Whether you were robbed 
or cheated, you were equally the loser, and for your loss, must be re- 
dressed. As it was with you then, so it is with us now. A deep, hon- 
est, religious conviction has satisfied us, that our political existence is 
overcast"^ if not entirely overthrown. That Congress has become the 



8 TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 

obedient i/istruraent through which a series of oppressions have been 
made, sapping our strength, and subverting our institutions. We have 
been placed under the ban. We have been debarred the enjoyment of 
property that belongs to us, because tliat property is said to be anti- 
republican. The foundation therefore of the argument which excludes 
us, invites the Federal Congress to remodel our institutions even in our 
own States. For it is made the duty of Con^-ess to guarantee to each 
State a republican form of government. The evil then is at our own 
door. Its train is already laid beneath our dwellings. The match is 
about to be applied. We have waited until we must choose between 
our own destruction, or that of those who so conduct themselves. One 
moment is left us, and you exclaim to us, pause still longer. I am sure 
you do not know that your judgment has been fearfully swayed in es- 
timating the danger to which we are exposed, w^hen you ask us to pause. 
Better would it be for him to pause, whose descending blow will save 
his own life : better for him to stop, whose utmost speed will but mul- 
tiply his chances of escape from destruction : better for him to slumber, 
who locked up in regions of ice, knows that the sleep which courts him 
to its embrace, will be the sleep of death ; than that we should pause 
in our resolves — stop in their execution, or slumber amid the dangers 
which encompass us. 

But you distinguish between the sources through which this danger 
approaches us. You consider its origin social, not jjolifical. That it 
is the act of individuals, and not that of the Government. This was 
the Syren song that first lulled the slaveholding States into that pas- 
siveness and inactivity, which have been so long practised. Had the 
stand been taken at the first appearance of the smallest specie, that we 
now take, far better might it have been. Although no human agency 
could probably do more than defer the time at which new combinations 
of States would arise from this present confederation, it might have 
been that our separation would not have been marked by the angry 
feelings which now have been developed. But we were told to be pa- 
tient, and we were patient. We were advised to wait, and we did wait. 
But while thus patient, and thus waiting, how changed has become the 
appearance of that which is opposed to us. It has swelled to gigantic 
proportions. No longer despised, its voice is heard potential in all po- 
pular assemblies, and the Congress of the United States dares not op- 
pose its violence and sway. It has become an element of social life 
and political existence. It is taught to the young child^'cn in their 
Schools — becomes the confirmed opinion of the rising generation — while 
unprincipled demagogues, still lash it on to that consummation of its 
fury, which only will end in the attempt to subvert the institution of 
slavery in the States where it now exists. 

When you say that the spirit of emancipation is a social, and not a 
]}oliiical evil, do you believe that it does not influence and govern the 
deliberations of Congress? Do you not know that, if a few honest 
spirits are found, bold enough to venture upon giving to the South 
what the most niggard conscience cannot withhold, that the most ex- 
alted reputation and loftiest dignity cannot sliield them from the punish- 
ment prepared for them ? Do yon not remember the case of Daniel 



TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 



Webster? Who would have supposed that Massachusetts would 
ever have abandoned Mr. Webster for doing that, which Massachu- 
setts sent him to Washington to do, and swore him to perform ? Yet 
is it so. Though with no lavish hand, nor overflowing generosity, 
Mr. Webster admitted that we had some rights, and were entitled to 
be protected in thera. At once there came upon hira a storm, to avoid 
the fury of which, he was forced to abandon that seat in the Senate 
Chamber which he had filled with such world-wide renown, and leave 
to another the diflBcult task, of reconciling his conscience with the 
reckless exactions of a ftmatical and licentious party. Is not the case 
of Mr. Webster suflBcient to satisfy you that the voice of abolition no 
longer is confined to the distance, but now rings throughout the halls 
of Congress, and drowns in its din every thing that may be said against 
it ? What has been the fate of Mr. Dickinson ? He has dared some- 
thing, too. Yet where has he found his reward ? The commentary on 
his conduct will be seen in the amalgamation of all classes of the 
democratic party, and the adoption of John Van Buren ; while the whig 
party, not to be beaten in this infamous race, endorse the sentiments of 
William H. Seward, and boldly proclaim that the constitution of the 
United States, so fi\r as it tends to the protection of slavery, is against 
the law of God, and the "higher law" absolves them from all obliga- 
tion to enforce the provisions of the constitution, which they have sworn 
to protect and defend. What candidate for the presidency dares to 
disregard the voice of the abolition party ? What candidate for Con- 
gress, is safe unless he caters for their vote? What member so 
abounding in moral courage as not to tamper with his oath, and, how- 
ever lie may delay, ultimately refuse that obedience which they so un- 
scrupulously demand ? That the action of Congress is made obedient 
to the demands of the free soil party is a fact which _ you alone deny. 
The press puts in its confession of the truth, and it is known that, in 
more than one instance, when members from the free soil States have 
been appealed to, to stand up and arrest the onward march of these 
movements, so rapidly bringing in their train the dismemberment of 
this confederacy, they have repHed, We dare not! Dare not do what? 
Dare not do justice— dare not preserve the truth— dare not regard their 
oaths— dare not defend the constitution— dare not give to the slave- 
holding States what so rightfully belongs to them. And why do they 
dare not ? Because of that overwhelming social sentiment, which has 
grown into a j^titical element, governing and controlling every other 
consideration that could be presented. Our senators return to U8,_ and 
say there is no hope. Our members come back, and say there is no 
hope. Our citizens, induced by the absorbing character of the question, 
go to the capitol to look with their own eyes, and they come back 
and repeat the cry, there is no hope. All feel that we Have ap- 
proached a point in our destiny— that a struggle is at hand, and can- 
not be avoided. The most timid are nerved to the encounter, and if 
there are any who have fancied that they could repose still longer, even 
since the adjournment of the last Congress, there has come rolling down 
upon them the echo of those gatherings in the free soil States, where 
principles which would become the wildest days of the revolution in 



10 TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 

France, are hailed with loud acclaim, and all men devote themselves to 
their support. They have felt that now, indeed, there could no longer 
be a doubt. And you tell us that this is social, not poliiical — the act of 
individuals, not the fiovernment — that it does not indicate danger — and 
that we are criminally regardless of the blessings we enjoy, if we en- 
tertain the idea of separating ourselves from those who have declared 
that our institutions are an abomination in the sight of God, and 
should be extirpated by the liand of man. Have you forgotten the 
pretext under which an interference with our institutions is attempted? 
Are they not declaimed against as ixjmUtical evil ? Has not State after 
State recorded its opinion on the subject? Put that opinion in the 
shape of resolves, and instructions to its members in Congress, and laid it 
down as a rule of conduct for them ? Do not these members so recog- 
nize it, vote upon it, conform their conduct to it, adjust the operations 
of the government to it ? And, wnth these things before you, you say 
the aggression is social, not political — that it is the act of individuals, and 
there is no cause of comphiint aa'ainst Conijress ! We all have heard of 
remarkable cases, where men of undoubted courage, for the moment 
influenced by some unaccountable panic, have falsified many well spent 
years in an hour, and stupefied with wonder the friends who admired 
them. But soon they became restored, and were themselves again. 
I trust that yours is a similar case. That you have hastily abandoned 
your matured opinions, for those which you have lately expressed ; but 
whatever circumstance has operated on you, its controlling influence 
will soon be removed, and you again be, what you have been, and 1 trust 
ever will be. 

You assert that there is no unmistakeable evidence of a conviction on the 
part of our people that they can no longer continue their social, civil and 
political relations with the Northern States. What do you consider the 
resolutions which have been adopted in all the slaveholding States? What 
do you consider the tone of the press, every where, at the South, except 
where it is disgiaced by venal writers, who have prostituted their talents, 
and are now marked with the finger of scorn ? What do you consider the 
popular gatherings which have been held in every slaveholding State ? 
What do you consider the Nashville Convention? What do you con- 
sider the proclamation of Governor Towns ? Or that of Governor 
Quitman ? Are not these unmistakeable evidences ? What do you 
consider the opinion of your best friends — men in whose patriotism 
you confide — in whose judgment you rely ? What do you think of the 
conviction which I have no doubt has been present to your own mind ? 
What do you consider that necessity which you say has forced you from 
your quiet ? Sir, when you tell us that " the present occasion is too 
momentous" for you to remain quiet — when you admit that "it is preg- 
nant with the fate of our whole country for all coming time," — you fur- 
nish an answer to the doubt you suggest. These are evidences, and 
unmistakeable, of that conviction which you seem inclined to dispute. 
As decided as is the indication of a spirit to oppress, equally strong is 
that with us of a determination to resist. AYhat would we be if it were 
not so ? With social feelings spurned — political privileges denied — 
even religious communion declined — how low, indeed, would be our po- 



TO THE HON. W. J. GRATSON. 11 

sition if we had not tlie fortitude to adopt the conclusion that, when 
they who hve on the other side of the Potomac forget — nay, more, 
spurn the fraternal relation, we could no longer even talk of a bro- 
therhood between us. See Georgia, hampered and embarrassed with the 
traitorous counsels of those who abused her confidence, yet rising in her 
might, and going into convention of her people. Will you tell me the 
convention will do nothing ? I tell you the convention itself is the evi- 
dence for which you inquire. True, thinking as I do, I should rejoice 
that the convention would now decide the question before us. But, even 
" trodden down," it cannot be " trodden out." The people are reading 
.and tliinking. They have begun the work. It is now a question only of 
time. As surely as any result may be predicted from the exercise of hu- 
man agency, will the leading Southern States secede from a confederacy 
which, in its progress, has trampled down that political equality which was 
the keystone of the arch. Their approach to this end has been so gradual; 
so reluctantly have they yielded tifthose necessities which, piled one 
upon another, forced them to this conclusion, that their calmness has 
been mistaken for acquiescence, their patience for submission. They 
have stooped. But, when the insolent foeman would put his foot upon 
them, the pride of freedom and of manhood has lifted them to the high- 
est position. Every paralyzing consideration has been cast oflf, and 
they are rallving under .hose banners which declare that they will "no 
longer continue their social, civil and political relations with the North- 
ern States." 

You do not consider that the secession of the Southern States would 
be a remedy, and principally because you seem to consider that a con- 
federation of ihese Southern States could not be had, or, if had, that in- 
ternal discord would make such a confederation less desirable than that 
under which we now live. You propose to substitute a system of non- 
intercommunication. I need not stop to argue this point with you, 
that non-intercommunication is secession without the name — the only 
difference being that non-intercommunication would admit still of the 
existence of the General Government. But, if the States withdraw all 
communication with each other, of what use would be the Government ? 
If it is not the Government of States identified with each other in senti- 
ment and interest, it had better be abolished. And, how would you 
terminate intercourse ? By law ? Would you say that Northern pro- 
duce should not be sold in a Southern market and to a Southern buyer ? 
If so, the Northern n)an would have a right to say that, by the Consti- 
tution, he was allowed to buy and sell in any State ! Would you leave 
it to the people to observe this compact among themselves ? I need 
not show you how continuing in the Union, such an understanding, ho- 
nestly observed by our own people, would be a premium for strangers to 
come among us, and grow rich before our faces by disregirding, on their 
part, the rule we established for our government. Of all the remedies 
which have yet been suggested, this is the least harmful; and, if we 
could be brought to its adoption, instead of arresting the movements 
now progressing against us, it would be a premium to multiply our in- 
juries, if such conduct could only confirm us in this glorious mode of 
avenging our wrongs by destroying ourselves. 



/ 



12 TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 

But, not for a moment have I been shaken by the expression of your 
doubt in the opinion I have formed, that, in a separate confederacy alone 
will we tind our safety. No separate and independent Slates ever jiossessed 
so many concurring circumstances to unite them and keep them united as 
these Southern States. They are each identified with an institution pecu- 
har to themselves. Of all the elements which combine to preserve political 
society and social order, none can be found more potential than domes- 
tic slavery, as it exists in these States. While it operates, on the one 
hand, to develope to its highest perfection civil hberty, it removes from 
the community in which it is found all possible tendency to licentious- 
ness and agrarianism. The superiority which it gives to the white 
class makes them jealous of any arbitrary assumption of power ; while 
the slaves occupy that position in labour that supplies the place of the 
lawless population who overturn governments at one time for mischief, 
at another time for bread. Without antagonism in interest, there can be 
no partial or unjust legislation. Mlth the world for a market, the only 
emulation can be in the value of their productions. Asking the same po- 
litical piivileges — needing the same political protection — their communi- 
ties restingon thesame basis — their laws the same — their language, t;istes, 
sympathies, the same — homogeneous in every thing that pertains to 
their political, civil or social relations — they would almost seem to have 
been marked out by Providence as a people created for an union among 
themselves, and with no one else. Possessing the most superior advan- 
tages in the cultivation of those staples which regulate the commerce of 
the world, the preservation of peaceful relations with these States would 
be as important to the conunercial nations of Europe as preserving quiet 
within their own dominions. Better would it be for England tli:it her 
Chartists should march unmolested through her land, than that these 
cotton-growing States should refuse her the supply she demands for 
those factories' from which her thousands of a pau|)er population are 
supported in life. Naturally thus secured in the continuance of a com- 
merce of which the carrying trade has poured out its rich returns into 
the la])s of the Northern States of this confederacy, on its wings would 
come back to us that wealth which once was ours, and out of w.hich we 
have been cheated. Thus introduced to the ]iathway in which national 
wealth would tlow in to reward individual enterprize and labour, we 
should soon tind ourselves advancing to the possession of all that en- 
riches and adorns civilized life. The tribute we pay to a Government 
whose aim is but to oppress us, would, by its expenditure at home, de- 
velope among us those arts which are born with us only to perish, from 
want, in their cradle. While thus, in all the gentler walks of life, we 
would be destined to a state of improved existence, the organization of 
our society would ever make us and keep us, as a ]->eople, more than 
adequate to the defence of our altars and homes. With a military spi- 
rit almost naturally created within us, confirmed by a sense of its ne- 
cessity and im])roved by our tastes, whilst it would be regulated by our 
position, we would find, at home, the most perfect protection against 
aught which would threaten us from without or within. Such, I feel, 
would be our condition. 



TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 13 

Such would be the destiny wliich then would be realized by a people 
who have been driven by a series of unjust and partial enactments, 
to find themselves the i)roducers of the wealth which enriched a conti- 
nent, yet, year after year, growing more and more impoverished. I 
have not coloured the picture. We may yet hve to see it true to the 
life. Yet, glowing as is the prospect, alone it would never have induced 
the people of the Southern States to contemplate the idea of a separate 
confederation. So strong with them has ever been the sentiment of 
fidelity, that, had the consritutiou been preserved and the government 
administered, according to the principles which called it into being, 
however great were the privations, or severe the disadvantao-es under 
which they laboured, not one man would have been found willing to 
abandon and destroy a compact into which he had entered in good 
faith. That our feelings have been alienated — that our affi-ctions have 
been extinguished — must be placed to the account of those who, for years, 
made us pay tribute to their insatiable thirst for gold, and, not satisfied 
with that, seek, in the most diabolical spirit, to plunge us into utter 
ruin, to gratify iheir sentimentality. That we have come slowly to the 
conclusion by wliich we now stand, is but the evidence that we have 
come surely to it. If, instead of benefit, there was danger in the path 
which our duty points out to us, it should not deter us. We should 
disgrace our history, if we would only vindicate our rights when we 
perilled nothing in the attempt. Gain could not seduce us ; danger 
shall not deter us. 

I have a few words to say in relation to the note which is appended to 
your letter, and which indicates your opinion on the Fugitive Slave Bill 
of the last session. I cannot see in it any cause for the satisfaction which it 
affords you. The Government could do no less. It should have done 
much more. It should have given us some guaranty for the preserva- 
tion of our institutions against the assaults to which they stand exposed. 
I have already shown you that through the Government was our insti- 
tution denounced. When that was done, how absurd is it to suppose 
that any remedial measure would be heeded. In one breath the Gov- 
ernment repudiates an institution, and in another seems to invite the 
co-operation of the fanatic mobs of the free States, to aid us in the re- 
capture of GUI' fugitive slaves. If allowed to operate, it would have been 
nothing. But the timid, unconscientious acts of the Government have 
in no respect been more rebuked than in the scorn and contempt with 
which this measure has been received in the free States. I must ask, 
do you seriously believe that this law can be enforced ? Do you be- 
lieve it can even live in the Statute Book beyond the first session of the 
next Congress? Why, sir, do you not know that in every part of the 
North, East and >v est, in their smallest villages — in their largest cities 
one unbroken sentiment of defiance has been uttered against the Gov- 
ernment which enacts, and the officers who may dare to attempt the 
enforcement of the law ? Have you not read that in New-York, at 
mid-day, in the Park, an immense gathering of negroes was had, at 
which the most violent language was used in reference to the slavehold- 
ing States, and this law supposed to be made for their peculiar benefit? 
Have you not seen the proceedings of the meeting in Boston, at which 



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14 TO THE HON. W. J. GRAYSON. 

was read a letter from Joslah Qnincij, denouncing this law, and pledging 
its autljor to such conceited nction as might be proper to annul it \ Are 
you ignorant of the fact that at Lowell, when some fugitive slaves, who 
had been dwelling there, became alarmed and fled, that the citizens met 
and sent a committee to bring them back, with a pledge that the law 
should not be enforced ? Sir, I might fill a volume with "elegant ex- 
tracts," from the reported proceedings of these meetings. You ask us 
" not to mistake the brawling of the beastly rout," for the voice of the 
people." I should be glad to know from what quarter you wait for the 
" voice of the })eople V While such has been the universal condemna- 
tion of this measure, point me, if you can, to the first meeting of con- 
sequence, in which there has been found the expression of a bold pur- 
pose to maintain the Government, even in this small act of justice to 
the South. You cannot. Meeting succeeds meeting, but like the 
waves of the ocean, each is lifted up with its infamous purposes, higher 
than that which preceded. Would you talk to such collections of the 
Constitution ? Would you venture to tell them of justice 1 Would 
they know what you meant by forbearance ? Yet to this mass of per- 
sons have we delegated the defence of rights, if we follow your advice, 
and pause in our career. You are right in this, that it is a "beastly 
rout. But you are wrong in supposing that it is any thing else but the 
people. 

I have done. The quiet from which you have torn yourself, is not 
more agreeable to you, than that which I have forsaken, is to me. This 
task, honestly, yet imperfectly done, to that quiet I now again return. 
There to remain until the State shall designate the posilion that she 
chooses her sons to occupy. Let others take their course, mine is clear. 
And in that path which I am bound to follow, you will find thousands 
of generous spirits, who would peril hfeto maintain their equality in the 
Union and encounter greater danger to maintain their independence out 

of it. 

ONE OF THE PEOPLE. 



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LIBRftRY OF COWrpcco 



